Still, it would be quite entertaining to see Mountain Man Steve's facebook updates if the republican party crushes his dreams of a GC run!
Got this answer from Davy Crockett, who has probably run more miles in the GC than anyone else:
"Yes, I believe it would still be open, they just wouldn't have anyone taking your $25 entrance fee and services would probably be less. The North Rim services shut down each year on Oct 15, but they let people come in until the road closes because of snow. I would guess it would be the same thing."
Hopefully the reduction in services doesn't include a lack of Tecate at Phantom Ranch.
7 comments:
Interesting. All that stuff at the base of the canyon is subbed out from the govt to some vendor who manages it all. They are probably still going to run their services though because you pay them to use their campground, etc.
My thought was that they would close the gates. The North Rim has a lot of Forest Service Roads. My guess is those would not be gated (most probably don't have gates). E-mail the park folks and ask.
Also per the GC guru: "there is no way they would close the gates, that is a major road and locals live in the area."
No need for me to e-mail the peeps, since either the gov't will shut down on Friday and I'll know what's going on by the time I leave, or they will agree on a two week extension like last time and I'll be good. I don't want to let them know I'm coming, I'll already be calling enough attention to myself by faking blindness so I can bring my dog along on the run...
Always one step ahead of The Man.
I'm too lazy to re-link to everything, but was browsing around looking at what RMNP will do as well, by looking at the 1995-96 shutdown. Sounds like the trails below the rim in GC were "closed", though they partly kept the roads open for "views."
The gist was, they kept some people on payroll to protect human life and "federal property." That made it sound like they actually keep glorified security guards around at the expense of everything else. The idea of having some public land "closed" kind of makes my head spin, especially when I think about how easy and legal it is to enter RMNP 24/7 from various neighboring NF land and wilderness, without needing the paved roads, visitor center, restrooms, etc. that make up the bulk of the maintenance and personnel cost.
So be careful what you do, 'specially with the dog. While they won't be able to chase you down they can shake their fist at you and get their revenge 10 or 12 hours later, by issuing you a ticket that nobody on payroll will actually be able to process, so that your money goes into a pot that doesn't allow a non-functional government to run.
What a cluster$%^@!
This was just posted on JT's specific question:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/apr/07/az-government-shutdown-grand-canyon-3rd-ld-writeth/
Road open. Trailheads "closed" - whatever that means.
Nice find. While I'm sure that politicians on both sides have my GC run on their minds, if the shutdown goes that long then military pay will be messed up. Hopefully that won't happen.
If it does, guess we can do Havasupai Falls this year instead of next year.
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